How can Gaddafi's death be confirmed for the purposes of the ICC proceedings?

In the Uganda situation, Raska Lukwiya was indicted by the ICC on charges pertaining to atrocities in the Northern Uganda committed by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). He was killed during battle with Ugandan government forces. Both the ICC prosecutor and the Ugandan government requested assistance from the Netherlands Forensic Institute of the Dutch Ministry of Justice to submit a forensic report confirming the human remains, as the person subject to the ICC arrest warrant. The Ugandan government cooperated in providing Lukwiya's death certificate. The judges found that "the purpose of criminal proceedings is to determine criminal responsibility and that the Chamber cannot exercise jurisdiction over a person who has deceased". Importantly, the judges noted that protective measures for witnesses and victims continue regardless of whether proceedings have been terminated.

Following this precedent, we can anticipate that the ICC prosecutor could repeat the same request to the Dutch forensic authorities.

Will the Libyan government do the same?

This begs the question: who is the Libyan government? The cooperation of the Libyan authorities is essential for securing access to Gaddafi's remains for forensic testing.

What happens if there is no cooperation and it is not possible to forensically verify the death of Gaddafi?

Again there may be some guidance from another case from the Ugandan situation. It is fairly commonly accepted that another ICC suspect, Vincent Otti, was killed by the leader of the LRA, Joseph Kony in 2007. However, unlike in the Lukiwya case, he is said to have died at an unknown location such that there was no access to his remains. As a result, there was no scope for cooperation in the collection of forensic evidence. For the Otti case, there is no publically available information of any pre-trial proceedings at the ICC similar to those in the Lukwiya case which officially confirmed Lukwiya's death and closed proceedings. As a result, Otti is still listed as "at large" on the ICC website.

Could this be replicated in Gaddafi's case?

It would be difficult to imagine that the ICC would persist with investigations in the face of official assertions, albeit without forensic verification by the Court, that Gaddafi has indeed died.

Although the death of Gaddafi ends the proceedings at the ICC, there are still two fugitives as a result of the ICC investigations into the events in Libya who must be arrested and transferred to The Hague. The question facing the ICC now is: where are Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah Al-Senussi.